Cast A Mere Apocalypse

The griffin descended
Throwing its lionheft across hundreds of miles
Wagering its eaglescreech against our warsong, soundwave shattering
Our will my will please my lord, surrender
My calciform rattled before each griffin claw
Tearing the soil, it rent The Name Tree
It resolved and mine was broken

Bodies are suspended by ancient forces
A person holds the universe at shankpoint: “Bend, that I should exist”
We are only bodies now, scorched, bloated

The Name Tree plumed and plummeting
Splintered past the battlegrounds I remember
A prayer streaming out of me
If I die before I drown, I’ll not have bent the knee
I saw the blazing mushroom, now I’m glad I cannot see
It sought the final root in each face—
They are only bodies now I lay
Wasted by my kindred in my homes my fibrous remains
Dusting the nation

Every particle of us shadowed on the ruins
Every body waterlogged, still mourned in the halls

Red forms wrestle oblivion on the flags
Oblivion is white and righteous
And red flashes against it
On the unpeopled flags
Gloves tearing the flags
Polyester talons tearing

m y f i b r o u s r e m a i n s

No one imagines the griffin’s mass while it traces K-N-E-E-L
In the clouds majestic lazy

My branded eyelids
Another cloud I do not forget
The griffin’s horror
I clench the throaty universe: “I lived the terrible griffin I live”